


honey i'm still free (take a chance on me)

by humanluke



Series: 70s AU [3]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1970s, Disco Luke Hemmings, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nonbinary Calum Hood, Nonbinary Character, Punk Michael Clifford
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:14:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29613444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humanluke/pseuds/humanluke
Summary: luke is convinced michael is going to break up with him.
Relationships: Michael Clifford/Luke Hemmings
Series: 70s AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2142117
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	honey i'm still free (take a chance on me)

**Author's Note:**

> hello everyone i'm back with some 70s au (who is she not writing slutty scholar au i know!) thank you as always to [brooke](http://blackbutterfliescal.tumblr.com) my wife for indulging me when it comes to these two. i love you almost as much as they love each other!!!!!! (maybe even more who knows!) this is from the prompt "for once, i was right" from the lovely [molly](http://staticsounds.tumblr.com)!
> 
> title is from 'take a chance on me' by abba!
> 
> enjoy!

Luke is convinced that Michael is going to break up with him. 

It was a stupid thought for him to have, really, since he’d spent a good amount of time and energy trying to gently break things off with him. He was just trying to avoid either one of them getting hurt -- Luke didn’t take well to getting his heart broken. He was already growing too attached to Michael, which was slowly becoming a problem. 

But anytime he tried to come up with a reason to not see him, to try to drift them a little bit further apart, Michael didn’t seem to get the message. If Luke said he wouldn’t be home until very late, Michael would say he would just wait for him. If Michael said he had a lot of homework to do, Luke offers for him to stay on campus to be able to focus. To which Michael would reply that he can focus better at Luke and Calum’s. (Which Luke found odd, since their home was almost never quiet. It didn’t seem like a great studying environment for most people.)

Despite his best efforts, Michael was still coming around, and Luke could find himself getting a little more hopelessly enamoured with the man. 

The thing is, however, Luke is a very overly loving person. When he finds someone new, he goes almost overboard with the affection. It’s part of the reason things never work out for him -- most people can’t handle how big and hard Luke loves. Which is why his indirect way of breaking things off with others always works out for him -- the other person is probably already ready to be done with him anyways. 

Michael, on the other hand, is not an affectionate person. Growing up in Boston, he didn’t get as much affection as Luke probably did when he moved in with Calum and their moms. Plus, there was his proclivity to men instead of women, which is what drove him across the country. He’s always been guarded with his heart, his feelings. 

Contrary to Luke’s beliefs, Michael was smitten with him. This big, beautiful ray of sunshine made of golden curls and long limbs and somehow graceful coordination was made just for him to protect, to keep close and make sure no one tarnished it. But his inability to share his feelings was a little bit of a downfall for him, he thinks. 

Especially when it came to nicknames. Which is how this all started. 

Luke was always doting on Michael, calling him anything under the moon that could pass as a nickname. Traditional nicknames, any kind of food that was acceptable as a nickname, you think of it, he uses it. Michael, on the other hand, reserved to calling Luke by his name and absolutely nothing else. And that’s what’s gotten Luke spiraling, thinking that Michael doesn’t love him and wants to break things off with him. 

All of Luke’s other friends call him by nicknames -- Calum calls him Lukey, even Ashton calls him Lu. (Even if Calum and Ashton didn’t fully understand Luke’s obsession with nicknames, they obliged. They were more the type that had a set of nicknames reserved for one another, and didn’t stray from them.) So to Luke, Michael only calling him by his first name meant he must not love him as much as his other friends too. (Luke has a habit of catastrophizing too quickly.)

Calum, ever on the lookout for Luke, and knowing that Luke is spiraling, takes it upon themself to interject. They don’t typically like to get in the middle of things, particularly in the middle of one of Luke’s relationships, but they can see the way Luke is getting attached but simultaneously hurting himself by thinking the worst at all times. If things are going to go south between their friends, they want to be there so they can pick up the pieces of Luke. It’s one of the things that they’re best at.

“If you’re thinking of ending things with Luke, you should probably get to it already,” Calum offers one afternoon. Michael and Calum are on the bus back to Calum and Luke’s place from Berkeley, as they usually do. Michael spends more time at Calum and Luke’s than he does in his dorm room on campus, and he’s been thinking about asking Luke about moving in with them next semester to save him the cost. But those words from Calum run right through him, and he looks at them almost incredulously. 

“Why would I end things with Luke?” Michael asks. His tone is almost defensive. Always on the ready for fight or flight -- that’s just how Michael is wired. Calum shrugs a little bit, eyes on their textbook that they’re skimming through on their lap. 

“Luke’s convinced you’re going to break up with him, dude,” Calum shrugs. “And I don’t want to see him get hurt. So if you’re going to break up with him, I suggest doing it sooner than later. He’s already attached.” Michael opens his mouth to protest, but the bus comes to a halt at their stop, and Calum is shoving their book in their bag and heading towards the door. Michael scrambles to grab his own bag, brain still swimming with the very notion that Luke thinks he doesn’t want to date him anymore. He’s trying to wrack his brain with reasons as to why, to what he could do to remedy things between the two of them as he follows Calum to the house. 

Michael isn’t all too surprised at the sounds of Abba playing throughout the living room as he steps into the living room with Calum, unlacing his beat up Chuck Taylors as soon as he’s through the door. 

“Hey, Lukey,” Calum says affectionately, shooting a grin over to the man. He’s currently draped over the couch, much too long for the length of the piece of furniture, flipping through some fashion magazine. He looks up from it, grinning over at Calum widely. 

“Hi, Luke,” Michael also offers, smiling softly at him. Luke’s gaze travels to Michael, and his eyes dull a little bit and he pulls back a little bit, biting his bottom lip nervously. 

“Hi, Cal,” he says, shooting a gaze back towards the kitchen, where Calum is currently making themself at home. His eyes fall back on Michael before looking back at his magazine. “Hi, Michael.” 

That was almost a tipping point for Michael -- Luke never called him by his name. He always used terms of endearment, or at the very least he called him Mike, or Mikey. Never Michael. His head is swimming again with the exchange he’d had with Calum on the bus, and he looks over to Calum as he pulls off his sneakers before looking back over to Luke on the couch. 

“Hey, Luke, can we talk for a minute? In the bedroom?” he offers. His voice is a little hesitant, but he wants to get to the bottom of things. He’s tired of beating around the bush, and he wants to know why Luke was being so off. He’s trying his hardest to give Luke whatever it is he thinks he might need. Luke looks back up from his magazine, and he looks as hesitant as Michael sounds. “Please?” Michael offers him his hand as Luke sits himself up. Luke looks at the hand for a moment, weighing his options before taking it into his own. 

Michael walks with Luke to his bedroom, flipping on the lightswitch as he closes the door behind them. The last thing he needs is for Calum to be eavesdropping (he’s certain they’ll be able to hear whatever discussion this ends up being through the thin walls of the house regardless). Luke sits himself on his bed, letting go of Michael’s hand to play with the both of his own in his lap. Michael is trying to formulate a sentence in his head, trying to think of where to start, how he wants to word things. He knows to be gentle with Luke, that’s for certain, and he doesn’t want to say anything wrong. 

He opens his mouth to start when he realizes Luke is sniffling, and he takes a good, direct look at him and realizes Luke has started crying. Michael is now panicking on the inside -- he hasn’t even done or said anything to him and he’s made Luke cry. He hates himself already. 

“Hey, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Michael asks, his voice soft for Luke’s sake. He reaches to take one of Luke’s hands into his own, sitting himself down next to him at the end of his bed. The dam breaks at Michael’s soft words, and Luke’s fully started crying, which sends Michael into more of a frenzy than before. He squeezes at Luke’s hand gently, shushing him quietly. “Hey, it’s okay, what did I do wrong? How can I fix this?” 

Luke turns his head towards Michael, and he hates how absolutely distraught he looks in this moment. He’s just trying to fix things, he wants to make his sunshine boy smile, and he’s completely fucked it up. How typical of Michael to ruin anything he gets close to. He curses himself and his terrible energy, wishing he could go back and undo whatever it was that made Luke so upset. He knows it has to be nothing but of his own fault. 

“Luke, talk to me, sunshine, I just want you to be happy,” he says, and he hates how the nickname slips between his teeth. Luke furrows his brow at the affectionate term, and Michael hates himself a little bit more. 

“You’re going to break up with me,” Luke manages between tears, squeezing his eyes shut. Michael brushes golden curls from Luke’s damp face, letting go of his hand to gently grasp his face into his hands instead. Luke sniffles a little harder, and he’s fully sobbing now, sounding almost like he’s been sent into a panic. Michael isn’t sure where he’s gotten the idea placed into his head that he was going to break up with him, but he wasn’t worried about that now. His number one priority is fixing this. 

“Hey, sweetie, breathe with me, it’s gonna be okay,” he says softly. “In for four, hold for seven, out for eight, okay? Do it with me.” Michael starts the breathing exercise, something he read about in a book one day when he stayed after school to keep away from his parents. He’d dealt with enough of his own issues with panic attacks that he can spot them from a mile away. He does it a couple of times before Luke catches on, breathing in sync with him. 

After a few moments, the tears slow, Michael brushing the remnants of any tears from Luke’s glittery cheeks, pressing his forehead against his gently. Luke looks at him with big eyes, the blues soft on Michael’s greens as he searches for something in the gaze. 

“How did you know that would work,” he offers softly, and Michael just brushes some golden curls behind Luke’s ear gingerly. 

“I know a panic attack when I see one,” he offers with a shrug. “I’ve had more than a few myself.” He pauses for a moment, thumb stroking gently against his cheek. “Why do you think I’m going to break up with you, Luke?” Luke takes a breath to keep himself even, trying not to let himself tumble over the cliff of emotions once again. 

“You only call me by my name,” Luke says, sounding small, and he feels like he sounds like an idiot the moment the words move past his lips. “Everyone else calls me by some nickname… but you just call me Luke. I know I can be a lot when it comes to affection, and you’re… not that way, so I just thought… you were getting tired of me being overbearing or suffocating with my affections…” He bites his bottom lip into his mouth, and Michael laughs softly, shaking his head as his thumb keeps stroking at Luke’s cheek gently. 

“I could never get tired of your affections, Luke,” he says softly. “I grew up differently from you, sure. I have trouble… expressing how I’m feeling most of the time, you know? Because I was always told that wasn’t how _men_ should be. Along with, you know. The fact that I shouldn’t _like_ men. But I love how open, and loving, and carefree you are. It’s like a breath of fresh air whenever you hold my hand or kiss me on the street or call me any number of affectionate nicknames. 

“I’m here because I care about you, and I’m sorry if I don’t show it as much as you do. It’s something I’m working on, you know? But I call you Luke because I _care_ about you, you know? I don’t want to be in a world without the overt affections of Luke Hemmings. I’m here to stay, for as long as you’ll have me.” 

There’s a pause between the two of them there, like some unspoken boundary had finally been crossed with the two of them. One that had nearly been crossed a few times before, but it was finally toppled over with Michael’s monologuing. Tears are threatening to spill from Luke’s eyes again, but for an entirely different reason now. Not because Michael is going to leave him behind, no -- but because he wants to stay with Luke, no matter his baggage. 

“So you’re not going to break up with me?” Luke asks gently, looking at Michael like he’s hung the moon in the sky just for him. Michael lets out a soft chuckle, shaking his head gently with a smile. 

“No, Luke, I’m not going to break up with you. I love you.” The words roll off of Michael’s tongue like he’s said it a thousand times before, not like this is a first time confession of the feelings he has for Luke. Luke has stars in his eyes when he realizes what Michael’s said, and without a second thought he closes the distance between the two of them and kisses him roughly on the mouth, tears spilling from his eyes again but from the sheer joy he feels. Michael _loves_ him. He loves _him_. Not anyone else. Luke has gone so long in his life thinking he would never find someone who truly loved him, who wanted to be with him despite his flaws and his past. He thought that he would have to settle for being alone someday once Calum had found someone. 

But no. He found Michael. And Michael loves him. 

He pulls back after a moment, his heart swelling in his chest as he looks at Michael, who has tears in his own eyes as well (though he’ll never admit to it). Michael brushes tears from Luke’s cheeks again, and Luke just laughs softly, Michael following suit after a moment. 

“I love you too,” Luke adds, after a moment, in between fits of giggles from the amount of adoration he feels in his chest. “In case you weren’t aware.” Michael laughs a little more, and he wonders fleetingly what Calum must be thinking about them laughing like a couple of hyenas in the room over from them. 

“Good thing, because if you didn’t, I’d feel like a right fool,” Michael laughs. “For once, I was right.” 

“Right about what?” Luke asks softly, still looking at Michael like he’s hung the sun in the sky just for him. Michael just smiles back at him.

“That you’d change my life.” Luke just smiles back at him, eyes sparkling with love for him and heart swelling as Michael leans in and kisses him again, a little softer and gentler. This kiss feels different than the others -- like a promise, almost. A promise that no matter what, they’ll always have each other.

**Author's Note:**

> come find one on [tumblr](http://cakelftv.tumblr.com)!


End file.
